inspired living

Motherhood Chronicles – Heart to Heart

Oh mama…please please please read this, because this is for you. Let me paint a picture, and you tell me if this hits home on any level.

It’s been a long week and its only Tuesday. There’s laundry waiting to be washed, and there’s laundry waiting to be folded. You need to wash your hair, but you told yourself you’re finally going to take a nap while the baby naps because the coffee ain’t cuttin it. By the way…where is that coffee? Sitting cold somewhere on a random shelf because you had to jump out of your seat like lightning to stop your child from shoving something down the heating vent. Who designed this house anyway?

Your toddler is on hunger-strike for the 3rd day in a row, unless of course it’s a cookie, like the one you get them from the bakery counter so you can have a half decent shopping experience. They have to eat, but you don’t want the battle so you pop a frozen waffle in the toaster and tell them its a really big cookie. And whatever baby doesn’t eat you’ll finish.

Before you know it, it’s Friday, and you finally decide to console in your husband. You tell him that life shouldn’t be this hard because it wasn’t even a “busy” week. Just the usual “job duties” that include driving into town nearly every day, negotiating with a toddler (which is pointless and mentally draining), all the little you can’t even remember, and all. that. damn. laundry.

So here you are with nothing left to give. You tell yourself, “I’m going to take a bath and drink some chamomile and I’ll be restored.” Sometimes a good soak and herbal tea can fix how broken you feel. Except tonight. Tonight you need that magic potion, but you don’t know what it is or where to get it. So you cry and cry, and then you think, “Oh! This is it! I just need to cry it out.” But it hits you instantly that those tears are not the magic potion either.

What now?

What do you do?

Girl, pray. Because you need a miracle. That’s a God-sized hole and nothing you do is going to fill it. You’ve got to pray and ask for help.

You’re in this rut because you’ve been trying to heal others and help others, and you thought you could simply do the same for yourself. But you’ve got nothing left to give-not even for you. Sometimes you can fix yourself. But not this time. No, this time you can’t do it all. And that will always be okay. You will never be weak for asking for help OR taking it. And if you think you don’t need it, I’m here to tell you “You DO!”

You can’t keep pouring from your cup to fill those around you, and only leave yourself a few drops. That’s not sustainable. Humans are adaptable creatures, but girl, there are limits.

So pray. Ask for help. Say yes when someone comes knocking on your door and offers to answer your prayer.